Container



D. R. ROSS CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 2, 1965 INVENTOR. DOWALD R. RUSS 1% wmwwww United States Patent 3,313,468 CONTAINER Donald R. Ross, 126 California Ave., Freeport, N.Y. 11520 Filed Aug. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 476,366 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-37) This invention relates to an improved shipping container for the protection of fragile goods transported therein and to the method of manufacturing such containers.

In many applications, it is desirable to provide a protective shipping container for fragile goods to protect the goods during transit. In many of these applications, however, the relatively low cost of the goods precludes the use of expensive shipping containers. In all cases, it has been found necessary to reduce the amount of labor involved in the packaging of the fragile goods since any significant labor content in packaging greatly increases the cost thereof.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved shipping container olfering the requisite protection against damage during transit and being capable of being constructed in a simple and inexpensive manner.

In accordance with this object, there is provided, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a shipping container formed of a single blank of stock which is folded along scored lines into the box-shaped configuration. Tabs are cut so as to provide extending flanges on each surface of the assembled box which separate the sides and ends of the box from contact with adjacent boxes or objects.

Thus, during impact, the extending flanges take up any shock imposed on the box before the shock reaches the side of the box and, thus, the fragile articles stored therein.

In order to provide a blank which can be assembled by automatic gluing machinery of normal design, at least one surface of the box and the flanges extending therefrom are flat throughout the assembly. However, when the box is erected into its final configuration, flanges are provided extending from this flat surface to offer the requisite protection against impact.

Having briefly described this invention, it will be described in greater detail in the following portions of the specification, which may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank positioned within a gluing machine;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the blank after folding one edge;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the blank of FIG. 1 after folding and gluing;

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken along lines 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the container;

FIG. 6 is a partial section taken along lines 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross section view taken along lines 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a partial perspective view of another embodiment of the container according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a partially sectioned end view showing the container in a typical application; and

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the container in another typical application.

In FIG. 1, there is shown a blank used to form the container of the present invention and comprising a die cut blank 10 punched from 0.03-in. thick bendable chip board as an example of a typical material used in fabrication of containers of this type.

The blank is shown entering a conventional gluing machine.

While the advantages of the container in resisting impact will be explained in greater detail in connection with subsequent figures, it must here be noted that any container construction in this field must be capable of utilizing conventional assembly equipment such as standard gluing machines and the like in order to be capable of economical fabrication. If it is necessary to construct special devices for gluing and folding, the cost of manufacture becomes so high as to preclude commerical utilization of the container due to the extreme competitive pressures and requirements for economical containers. Thus, the blank must be specifically cut to enable use of conventional equipment.

Thus, the blank is cut to provide a bottom wall 12, a first side Wall 14, a top wall 16 and a second side wall 18. Scored lines 20, 22 and 24 respectively are applied to the bendable chip board at the desired corner junction between walls 1214, 14-16, and 16-18.

An extending flap 26 is formed adjoining wall 18 and a fold line 28 is scored in the chip board. The blank is passed through the gluing machine and an applicator 30 glues the underside of flap 26. The wall 18 and flap 26 are then folded over as is shown in FIG. 2.

During the fold, the extending flange 32 is formed along the outline of the die cut line 34. It should be noted that flange 32 is integral with wall 16 so that as the wall 18 is folded up, the blank remains fiat and not lifted from the platen 36 of the gluing and folding device. The wall 12 is then folded over as is shown in FIG. 3 so that the flange 38 engages the glued flap 26 in bonding engagement therewith. During the folding, the flange 40 provided by the die cut outline 42 is formed. The container is, thus, formed in flattened form as is also shown in FIG. 4 with the flaps 28 and 38 bonded by the adhesive 44. The container is then ejected from the machine, stacked, and shipped to the ultimate user in folded form to save space during transportation thereof.

The end Walls 46 and 56 remain in extended form with the scored lines 48 and 58 respectively defining the position of the bend line at the termination of bottom wall 12.

At the site of use, the box is erected by the user as is best shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. For use, the user merely erects the box and swings the end wall 46 along the scored line 48 (FIG. 1) until the protruding tongue 50 engages within the keyway 52 cut in the top wall 16. The container is then secured in the open position to receive the article as shown by the end view of FIG. 5. The article to be transported as, for example, a light bulb or a frangible electrical part is inserted within the container and the outer end wall 56 is then closed by folding along scored line 58 until the tongue 60 engages the keyway 62.

The assembled container provides an unusual degree of protection for the goods contained therein by virtue of the extending flanges 32, 38, 40, 63, and tongues 50, 60.

The extending flanges and the flanges formed by the extension of the tongue ensure that the contents of the box is protected against impact since the extending flanges absorb impact energy and provide an air space between the side of the box and the outer shipping container. Similarly, the end walls 46 and 56 assemble within the container side and top walls 14, 18 and 16 respectively to provide protective spacing at the ends.

If necessary, additional die cut lines may be applied in place of the continuous fold lines 48 and 58 so that 3 when the end walls 46 and 56 are erected, a flange 72 will be erected as is shown in FIG. 8.

A typical application would be mailing of frangible articles such as light bulbs in which the container 10 is enclosed within an outer container 74 as is shown in FIG. 9. As can be seen from FIG. 9, the extending flanges provide a spacing between the walls of container 74 and the article thereby to protect the article against direct shock impact. The flanges may, of course, crush if the blow is sufliciently high, but the impact energy will be absorbed by the crushing flange, thus, dissipating the force of the impact and, thus, protecting the contents of the articles shipped.

Alternatively, the containers may be installed within a larger shipping container 76 as is shown in FIG. 10 which shows the containers stacked in random fashion. As will be noted from the figure, even a random stacking of the boxes provides protection by separation of the individual boxes and by virtue of the flanges.

This invention may be variously modified and embodied within the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A container comprising a bottom wall, end walls contiguous to said bottom wall, a first side wall, a top wall and a second side wall blanked from a single sheet of material and having score lines impressed into said material along the desired junctures of said walls, said second side wall being provided with an extending flap, said top wall being provided with extending flanges cut from the contiguous side walls and extending in planar relationship with said top wall, said first side wall being provided with an extending flange cut from the contiguous material of said bottom wall, said second side wall being folded along the score line defining the juncture between said second side wall and said top wall, said bottom wall being folded along the score line defining the juncture between said bottom wall and said first side wall with the edge thereof in contact with and bonded to said flap extending from said second side wall, each of said end walls being provided with a tongue, each end of said top wall being provided with a dovetail adapted to receive the tongue on a respective end wall.

2. A container in accordance with claim 1 in which said end walls are positioned within said side walls, the extension of said side wall beyond said end wall forming a protective flange for the ends of said container.

3. A container in accordance with claim 1 in which flanges are provided at each end wall by cutting of the material along the outline of the flange in the adjacent bottom wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 975,121 11/1910 Carter 229--14 1,344,147 6/1920 Potter 22914 2,533,070 12/1950 Tyrseck 229-14 2,835,428 5/1958 Herzog 220-14 3,075,683 1/1963 Grossman et a1. 229-44 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,023,452 3/1953 France.

265,489 2/1927 Great Britain.

GEORGE O. RALSTON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER COMPRISING A BOTTOM WALL, END WALLS CONTIGUOUS TO SAID BOTTOM WALL, A FIRST SIDE WALL, A TOP WALL AND A SECOND SIDE WALL BLANKED FROM A SINGLE SHEET OF MATERIAL AND HAVING SCORE LINES IMPRESSED INTO SAID MATERIAL ALONG THE DESIRED JUNCTURES OF SAID WALLS, SAID SECOND SIDE WALL BEING PROVIDED WITH AN EXTENDING FLAP, SAID TOP WALL BEING PROVIDED WITH EXTENDING FLANGES CUT FROM THE CONTIGUOUS SIDE WALLS AND EXTENDING IN PLANAR RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID TOP WALL, SAID FIRST SIDE WALL BEING PROVIDED WITH AN EXTENDING FLANGE CUT FROM THE CONTIGUOUS MATERIAL OF SAID BOTTOM WALL, SAID SECOND SIDE WALL BEING FOLDED ALONG THE SCORE LINE DEFINING THE JUNCTURE BETWEEN 